SBI U.S. U-17 Man of the Match: Andrew Carleton

The U.S. Under-17 Men’s National Team put a beating on Paraguay on Monday with the team’s playmaker leading the charge.

Andrew Carleton put together his best performance of the U-17 World Cup to lead the U.S. U-17s to a 5-0 win over Paraguay in Monday’s Round of 16 matchup. Carelton’s performance earned the Atlanta United midfielder recognition as SBI U.S. U-17 Man of the Match, narrowly beating out teammate Timothy Weah for Monday’s honors.

Carleton’s day started hot as he picked up a hockey assist with a magnificent pass on Weah’s opener. Carleton then scored the third U.S. goal of the day, firing home a Josh Sargent pass in the seocnd half. In the 74th minute, Carleton repaid the favor by slipping a through ball to Sargent for the game’s fourth. The Atlanta United midfielder then teed up Weah for goal number five, as his no-look pass left Weah with a simple finish for Carleton’s second primary assist of the day.

It was enough to earn Carleton Man of the Match honors over hat-trick hero Weah, while James Sands and Chris Durkin earn a mention for their efforts in defense.

What did you think of Carleton’s effort? Who was your U-17 Man of the Match?

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Comments

8 comments

Jack

Pretty crazy when a player scores a hat trick he isn’t MOTM, One of the goals being incredible. However still I’d agree. Carleton was involved in everything, creating and unlocking most of our chances.

Hackworth (finally) used both Akinola and Weah as starters. Their speed and power on the wings opened up the defense and made space for Carleton to operate.

IAkinola was instrumental in more than a few dangerous scoring setups for the US If he is not available for the next games, I think the US will have a bit more trouble unlocking the defense. I don’t think you can understate the importance of playing wide to open up the middle for Carleton and Sargent.

This is a mistake. Guys this young would benefit more from training/trying to earn a 1st team place with a European team than even getting regular minutes with an MLS side. People don’t seem to understand that european reserve teams are a) very well coached/trained and b) still play against other professionals in competitive environments. MLS reserves don’t play in competitive environments and I would much rather have those kids learning with European coaches.

If your young enough to still be on their youth teams, Europe is still often a better choice to develop than MLS. If you are 24 and the choice is not making the game day squad vs playing in MLS, MLS is a better option.

I agree but it’s not like all of these kids have Europe knocking on their door, except for the ones that everybody knows of, the others probably have to fight it out in the US and don’t forget the passport requirements so at this age of 16 and 17 options are limited so they need to make the best of it.

The problem is if you don’t have a Euro passport like Weah, you can’t go until you are 18. So your option is to sign a deal past age 18 like Carleton and train with ATL, or holdout like Sargent and not have anywhere to play for a year.

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